4 Simple Goals Before 2013 // The Results

You may or may not remember me posting about my 4 SIMPLE GOALS BEFORE 2013. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to do a RECAP post about it, but after reading Kitty's post I decided to. She inspired me to share my results. So here we go...


FAIL! This is the only goal I feel I completely failed out. I feel like you can always make time for things that are important to you. I failed at making time to workout. I will say that my job physically wears me out daily. When I get home I have very little energy. I walk what feels like miles at work. I don't feel too badly about not working out. I just know it's better for me. Especially since I want to bike so much this year. I need to "train" for my first real season of cycling. I have worked out a little bit this month. I am also already starting to not drink as much caffeine/coffee. I am heading in the right direction, just not before 2012 ended. HA! Oh well. Next goal...


This is a tricky one to answer. I started out really good in October and into early November. Then we ended up buying a house so quickly that my life and schedule was turned upside down. Most of my time management issues have to do with my blog. I love my blog, but it takes up so much of my time. Too much. I didn't fail this goal, but I still need to figure out better ways to manage my time I take to do posts. Also trying to keep up with all the reading of other blogs has gotten really hard for me. I want to visit you all, but there just isn't enough time in the day!! Blog Lovin' is helping me out a lot right now with keeping up with my reading list. I am trying to do most my blog posts on only a few days of the week. (Freeing up the other days.) Still struggling though. I need time for real life. LOL


This goal I did. Only one huge hill, but it counts. Gosh, it burned so bad! Our last bike ride that we took in October we went a different way on the trail. There was this long long hill that I never thought I would be able to climb up. Of course Cody blasted by me. I yelled obscenities the whole time I was peddling up the hill. Cody keep yelling at me not to stop and I just kept going. I did make it to the top without stopping. It just was painful and took what felt like an eternity. This is why I need to workout more. We now have a bike trainer in our basement. My bike is hooked up to it and you just peddle like a spin bike. It's so freakin hard! I can't wait to be able to climb mountains on my bike. It will all be worth it in the end.


This I felt was a goal that may have seemed strange to people. Since I moved 1200 miles away from my parents I don't see them EVER. I don't feel like I talk to them enough and it's sad. Time goes by so fast and I don't ever want to regret not keeping in better contact with them. We have talked more on the phone since October and emailed more. I hope to start taking the time to write letters and call more often. I think it's really important. So, I didn't fail at this goal but there is room for improvement.

We all have goals for 2013. I think we just have to focus on the really important stuff. Don't put way too much pressure on yourself to do a million things. Of course I say that and I have my 32 Things list. HA! I want to be really ambitious this year. I think if Cody and I decide to start trying for a baby it may be this fall. I want to do a lot of things this year that may not be so easy with a mini me running around. :)

What is your number 1 thing that you WILL accomplish in 2013??

Sponsors & Friends // January 2013

BLOG // BLOGLOVIN // FACEBOOK
My name is Madison, and I'm a 24 year old Graphic Designer living in Nashville Tn. I currently work as a Creative Administrator for a record label in Brentwood Tn, and I have recently purchased my own house in Nashville. My blog is about about my sometimes crazy life in Nashville! With my amazing rescue dog Axle and his sister Clover.


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I am a 21 year old Mother, Artist, Seamstress, Crafter, majoring in Biological Science, and the owner/CEO of AmaCharms.com. Inspired by Vintage fashion, Korea, Cats, Floral, and Frugal living. I bring you fun DIY, sewing and crafts that can be used anywhere and made by anyone.


BLOG // BLOGLOVIN
In life, I have learned that I am a list maker, but not a list follower. I tend to have paint in my hair and dye on my hands. I am a thrift store junky and lover of anything somewhat funky. Roller Derby wanna-be. Wife to my beloved deployed soldier & a mama with a few tattoos. And I am fully aware that none of these things make me special.


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My name is Ditte and I am a Danish girl who loves taking pictures. My blog is my personal photo diary and you are more than welcome to follow. I blog about everything I love; animals, cooking, art and so on.


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I've always maintained I was born to be a 1950's housewife. I find enjoyment in cleaning my house, cooking and baking, general crafty loveliness and my bunny rabbits, Major Tom & Special Agent Dale Cooper. I like anything pink, sparkley, adorned with a pin up girl or a bunny, horror films and dinosaurs.

Please make sure to check out EVERYONE located in my sidebar!
I have lots of great ladies who swap with me month after month!
If you are interested in sponsoring or swapping ad space please visit my sponsorship page!

Our Bedroom: Work in Progress & Painted Pink

It's been weeks since Cody and I have done any real improvements around the house. We had all the holidays and just didn't have time to really start anything. Now that things have calmed back down to a regular routine I was eager to start doing projects again. Our bedroom was the next room on the list. Here are some before images of the space...


I hate those closet doors. The closet is so wide though, that our options are limited. I think we are going to keep them for now but I will paint them white to brighten up the room. I wonder how many coats of paint that's going to take? (I really don't want to know.) Here is the closet without the doors on. We actually plan to install all new shelving. I have ideas for getting us super organized and using every square inch.


We took both weekends days to work on the room. Day 1 we started with emptying the room and ripping up the carpet. I am so happy to have the original hardwood floors in our home. There are only 2 rooms that do not have hardwood floors, besides the bathrooms. One of the downstairs bedrooms and our kitchen.


Gosh, I'm short. The floors do need refinished. They have been abused. The whole house has been abused really. They painted over all the airvents and switch covers, leaving it all ruined. The walls are full of holes and gashes. It's sad really. We will do what we can to fix it up nice.

Chloe jumping over the carpet. She was so confused.


On Day 1 we also painted the ceiling a fresh coat of white paint. I painted all the baseboard trim and window/door trim bright white. We also said goodbye to our vintage ceiling fan. I love vintage things, but this fan had to go. It will be donated :)



I love our new fan. It's so simple and pretty. We purchased it at The Home Depot.

Day 2 of course was my favorite part, painting the pink walls. Originally I had planned on doing a ombre paint technique in shades of pink on the walls. I honestly do not have the time to invest into that project right now. Now that I have seen the room in one shade of light pink I am glad I didn't do it. The room is tiny and I like it's simplicity. Especially since it's where you sleep and relax at the end of a stressful day! The best photo I took was this one of Cody. Look at the disgusted look on his face...


I thank him over and over for letting me paint the room pink. It meant a lot to me and I LOVE it! He really doesn't care. It's just a room to him, but he does hate pink. It's a big deal that he let me do it since he hates the color so much. I wonder if it's in guy's DNA to hate pink? So strange really.
Later that night Cody said to me, "I like what you are doing here."
This was after I started placing the furniture back in. He understands my decorating vision. :)

I am very happy with the color. I used Valspar Semi-Gloss paint from Lowe's. The color is Utterly Pink (Valspar) 1003-2C. The paint was supposed to be low VOC and low odor. It has a VERY strong paint odor. I was extremely disappointed with this product. It also did not cover well. It was supposed to be paint and primer in one. I feel like I got ripped off! Today the paint still smells very badly and gives me a headache. It's cold outside so I can't really air the room out either. I ALWAYS buy Behr or Glidden paint from Home Depot. This was the only time I didn't. What a mistake! The Behr low odor paint is wonderful. Oh well, lesson learned.

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of the bedroom!
Stay tuned for more progress!
You can view a VIDEO TOUR of my home by visiting this link.

View all my posts about my home HERE.

DIY: Framed Map Heart Cutouts

Most of us have Pinterest addictions. Once I knew we were buying a house I started pinning decorating ideas like crazy. Many of them being DIY projects. One that I really found cute was an idea to cutout hearts out of old maps and then frame them. Most the time the hearts were the place you met your spouse, got married and where you bought your first home. I decided I really liked the idea and wanted to try it out myself.


My hearts represent everywhere we have lived or traveled. I was actually really excited to do this because I plan to just keep adding hearts to it as we travel more. I designed my hearts using Photoshop. I used Google maps to get photos of the maps I needed. Then I would edit them into heart shapes and even play with the colors a bit.


Once I printed them all out I started cutting...

I ended up with a lot of hearts! It took some time to figure out what pattern I wanted to lay them out in.
I just eyeballed the entire thing. I taped them down once they looked even.


The Santa Barbara heart is my favorite...

I should mention that my living room is where my globes are and where I have some other maps framed. I am also doing a painting soon to hang over my couch that kinda also fits into the same theme. I love traveling and thought this project was perfect for my home. :)


There you can see it with nothing around it on the mantel. I have since added plants and vases around it. I can't seem to get it right so I keep moving things. (Photos to come later.) I am happy with the end result. It's just a simple modern looking piece of art. I had considered putting the hearts on a bright colored fabric or place bright colored hearts behind the maps to make them stand out more. I like the simplicity of it for now.

You can see my original PIN that inspired me to do this project HERE.
View all my posts of my home HERE.

Netflix Must See: Beyond The Myth

How would you feel if animal control knocked on your door and took your pet? Your pet that you view as a family member in your home. A pet that had never harmed another animal or person it's entire life. The movie Beyond The Myth is a film about Pit bulls. The city of Denver has had a ban on Pit bull ownership for years. (or even dogs that were mixed or appeared to look like a Pit bull) If your family dog happens to be one, it will be taken from you and killed.



I used to be uneasy around the breed until I gained my own personal experiences with them. When I worked at the animal shelter I had to work one on one with many different Pits daily. In a 3 month time period I went from fearing them, to having them sit on my lap, to now wishing that I could own one of my own.

The film is educational. It's not just about Pit bulls, it's eye opening to other issues as well. I am from Cincinnati, OH and didn't even know that there was a Pit bull ban there. This film was shocking, informative and heartwarming. People share their stories about how they have fought to keep their family pets and others tell their story of how they lost them.



Michigan has a ban on multiply breeds, including Great Danes. WHAT? I grew up with Great Danes. They are such gentle giants!! The film is eye opening and if you are an animal owner/lover you should watch it. Plus I think it's good to educate yourself on such a "hated" breed. Pit bulls honestly just want to lick you death and sit on your couch like other dogs.

It's sad that Pit's are given such horrible reputations. I understand why it's happened. The media always makes sure to let us know when a Pit bull has bitten someone or sadly killed a person. There are many dog attacks and bites by other breeds that aren't reported though, because the media doesn't show interest in those stories.

Ironically I now have a Pit bull living next door to me. I was excited at first because I have become so attached to the breed after working at the shelter. I realized pretty fast though that THIS Pit didn't seem to have the same warm fuzzy feelings about me. He tends to rush the fence while barking viciously at us. He will however wag his entire butt if I am outside with food. I just ignore him because I know it's just THAT dog. It's him. Plus, if his owner is outside sometime when I am, I plan to just ask about him. See if maybe they can introduce me to him. That way the dog knows that I am no longer a threat. If not, I just don't show fear. It's just another example of how ANY animal can be mean. We have to break stereotypes, because they don't do us any good!

Here is a quick trailer of the film...

A Few of My Favorites Things #2

A few of my favorite things from around the world wide web. Enjoy.
I think this bracelet made by Ditte is very cute! I love the colors and what a great way to use vintage buttons.

I found this image while looking for tattoo ideas. I think it is breathtaking.

So TRUE.


Katherine posted a great post a few weeks back for us that need some help understanding our cameras. (ME)
I have booked marked it and saved it to read in the future. Thought I'd pass the link along.

You can click on the images to visit the sources and links. :)